I can relate to all of this. One consequence for me has been lower visibility from my managers. I'm more productive by focusing on the work of my team and helping others, but by not participating in the politics I am perceived as a lower contributor than someone who does the opposite. It's still worth it for me, I've just given up on the goal of being perceived as the top contributor.
It's not a brake check if the person in front of you is slowing down and your braking is to maintain safe distance. A brake check is braking for the purpose of affecting those behind you. It seems clear he means it is braking due to the slow down ahead.
I think being generous with these arguments hurts more than helps. The reporting rules are mandatory for COVID-19 vaccines because they were authorized under emergency use.
"Healthcare providers who administer COVID-19 vaccines are required by law to report the following to VAERS" ... "Death" - https://vaers.hhs.gov/reportevent.html
Even someone who dies of a car accident gets recorded as a death. There is no judgement call made as to whether the vaccine caused it at all, it is required by law.
VAERS is a dataset that is meaningless on its own, especially in the case of the COVID-19 vaccine. It is meant to be compared with other datasets to uncover trends which could indicate a problem with the vaccine.